The DNR says it is investigating whether Lake Township needs an ordinance to prohibit target shooting on state land near the Rush Lake State Game Area and privately owned land in 12 sections of the township that officials have labeled a “danger area.”

A township doesn’t have the authority to create such an ordinance on its own, so Lake officials petitioned the DNR. The proposal also wouldn’t apply to those hunting legally in the area.

The move has caused residents to fire back. Some say they have a right to own a gun and should be able to shoot it on their property. Others simply have said there are plenty of laws and adding another won’t make a difference.

Township Supervisor Valerie McCallum says it is a safety issue. McCallum says stray bullets have hit a person’s house. One resident found casings and fireworks on her lawn and people also were shooting at trees and signs posted in the state game area, she said.

“People don’t want to let their kids enjoy the area. Adults don’t want to take walks and enjoy the area,” McCallum said last month. “That’s what got us to this point.”

“We just want peace back there … before someone gets hurt,” Simmons said at a hearing last month.

There’s no correlation to target shooting and the shots reportedly fired into a house, and incident reports covering the last 10 years show no reports of injury, according to and Cpl. Peggy Ruby of the DNR’s law enforcement division.

Ruby says the DNR can either deny or agree partially or fully to the township’s petition. She says the township should get a full report with recommendation by May 1.

In October 2015, a county commissioner said residents were being “terrorized” by gunshots and what had sounded like bombs going off. The sheriff said he hasn’t seen anything to credit that allegation, and that he can’t write tickets and make arrests for laws that don’t exist: http://bit.ly/1LOWX2e.